CMS to ask if HIPAA is a barrier to care coordination

The CMS wants to know how it can reduce HIPAA burdens that limit care coordination and has submitted a proposal for a request for information to the White House's Office of Management and Budget.The goal of the solicitation is to figure out if HIPAA regulations are limiting or discouraging coordinated care and case management among hospitals, physicians and other providers. The OMB received the RFI Tuesday and has up to 90 days to review it. Any such barriers may undermine attempts by the agency to move Medicare from a fee-for-service to a value-based pay system, it said in the notice.The RFI would specifically seek comment on several questions, including if it should create a legal safe harbor for disclosing a patient's information for purposes of care coordination or case management and...